Vista to XP to Win 7 to BSoD

Hi all, Wish my first post was for better circumstances, but here it goes! My wife uses a Toshiba L305D-S5895 laptop I bought a few years ago (2009?). Anyway, it originally came with Vista x86 and I quickly removed that and put XP x86 on it. I've recently (last weekend) upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate x64 and things were great until last night. We received two BSoD within half an hour of each other. I quickly Googled this issue and found myself here. I have been reading the forums and have done some things you all recommend.

First, I ran the memtest86 overnight and got no errors. I also did the "Verifier" and get the BSoD immediately. In fact, doing the "verifier," I was not even able to see my desktop. It Blue screens just as the desktop starts to show, or way before it. I let that run for an hour or so, collecting data from the system dumps.

I have included the .DMP files, the RaMMon html file, the CPUID screenshots, and the SF analysis in the zip file.

On a side note, a friend of mine has the exact same laptop and installed Win7 x64 at the same time and has not received and BSoD, BUT I told him to run the memtest and verifier and his memory came back without error, and he has the exact same issue with the verifier where he is unable to even see his desktop.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated as I really would like to keep all machines in my house on Win 7 and not have to go back to XP with my tail between my legs.

Reading your text has raised many questions that I'd love to have answered before saying a whole lot. You should just get the Win7 in order... nothing should be motivation for going "back to XP". I read about a lot (in forums) but, I have never had a BSOD on a Win7 machine. What was going on just before the BSODs? What security are you using? I'd like to discuss a few concerns w/ you before telling you what I think or suggesting what to do (next). Ultimately, a Repair or Rebuild will probly be needed but, followed by no more BSODs. How was the move done from XP to W7? Drew

The first BSod came when my wife booted up, and as soon as it showed the desktop, it happened. The Second came from her trying to transfer photos from her iPad2 to the computer. A dialogue box popped up saying something about choosing which files to xfer and then while she was reading it (10 secs of being up) it Blue screened. The rest of the BSODs came from the verifier. I am using AVG free edition for security. What concerns do you have? I am not opposed to a repair or rebuild at all as this is a fresh(ish) install of 7 and would not involve much data loss. The move from XP to 7 was a full wipe/reformat. I don't think I wiped any partitions during this install.

I don't want you going through a lot of grief trying to find root causes/problems & or be trying to 'fix' things... so, since, not a big deal @ this point in time, rebuild it. I don't know what media you are using... Retail version, burnt DVD, OEM, etc. (wish I did). Anyway, format & use "Custom Install", of course.

Do not use AVG.

After the OS is live, 1st thing, install MSE. Next, grab ALL the MS Updates. Eventually make sure you are using the latest iPod (Apple) software & drivers before doing anything more w/ the iPod.

I own a Toshiba laptop w/ Vista. All my other machines are Windows 7. I, too, have an iPod. I have never had a BSOD & nor should you. There's either something corrupt somewhere or there's a conflict w/ some software or hardware that is not playing nice w/ the machine. None of it is reason to revert back to XP. You are right, it makes good sense to have all (your) machines on 7.

Thanks Drew, I will install Win 7 again. The version I use is from Microsoft through my school (completely legit) which i have burned to a DVD.

I have MSE on my other laptop and love it (so un-intrusive) , but she is not a fan. If it will fix the issues here, I will definitely switch.

As far as the Updates, I always make sure the OS is completely updated before installing any software(except for virus protection).

The apple software was the latest version direct from their website and was installed/configured before the iPad was plugged in.

A note about the BSOD, I had this laptop when Windows 7 RC came out and installed it on this laptop. It too had serious blue screen issues so I removed it. This machine has never worked well with 7, which tends to make me think it's a hardware issue.

Also, as I mentioned, my friend has the exact same laptop and he has 7 on it too, though I'm not sure where he got his copy of 7. It seems strange to me that his would have the same issues as mine unless it were a hardware/driver issue or something else that is similar between our two machines.

Also, the link you provided is great and I do almost everything on that list already. I have a hard time trying to teach/convince others (namely my wife lol) to do the same. I LOVE to keep my machines as clean (software and physically) and smooth running as possible and take good care of them.

So, just curious. After another clean install, lets say the issue still persists, what do we do then? I will report back in a couple of days (maybe later tonight) after installing/updating.

I did burn at a very slow speed, I think it was 4x (it was a while ago). I have used it to install on two other computers and they have been problem free.

I just ran the Win7 Advisor and it says 4 system requirements have passed, 7 devices are compatible, and 11 programs are compatible. So now that I have this list, can I count those out as being the culprit? How to I get a list of things that didn't pass?

Toshiba offers drivers on their website and instructions how to upgrade to Windows 7 from Vista and XP which I followed. I didn't install any of their software until after the BSoDs occurred, but they didn't seem to help.

I haven't gotten a BSoD today other than running the verifier. A question I have is, is it possible to run the "verifier" thing without getting a BSoD? Meaning, is there actually an issue if I get a BSoD while running the verifier? I haven't gotten a BSoD today other than running the verifier.

I finished downloading a fresh copy of 7 last night and burned it at 4x and have since installed. I have only updated Recommended Updates, no Optional ones yet. The only program I have installed is MSE.

The verifier is actually the driver verifier that I found mentioned several times on this windows7Forums site. I believe what it does is puts extra stress on components which if there is a faulty driver, will cause them to fail and result in a BSoD. Is this correct?

I ran it on my laptop (not the laptop that is crashing) and haven't had a single issue since last night leading me to believe that if a computer doesn't have a faulty driver, it can run the driver verifier without issue.

This led me to the idea that the laptop with issues has a problem with a driver, so I came up with an idea. Like I said before, the ONLY thing I have installed on the problematic laptop is installed recommended updates and MSE. This means there are a lot of drivers that aren't installed yet in the optional updates. So what I have done, is turned on the driver verifier on the problematic laptop and let it run, which I was NOT able to do prior to the latest fresh install of 7. It would immediately result in a BSoD. So far, It's been 2 hours and not a single crash.

What I plan to do now is install only install one driver from the list of optional updates and let the laptop run for a few hours in the driver verifier mode. Then if no crash, I will install the next driver in the list of updates and let it run for a few hours. Eventually one of these drivers I am installing will create a crash and I can identify the faulty driver.

Hi Drew, I've replied to your last post (#8), but I didn't realize that it has to be approved by a mod(probably because I added link to it), so I made another and then saw the message about my posts will have to be approved by a mod. Anyway, if this post shows up before the other two posts (they both talk about the "verifier") I apologize.

Here's my findings thus far. I have narrowed it down to at least the ATI x1200 driver being the cause of these blue screens. You can see how I came to this from the other post I have made that is still waiting for approval. I installed one driver at a time, then ran the verifier and I got a BSoD when I installed the ATI driver.

I'm going to try to update that driver from the ATI website instead of the Windows update and see if that works. I'll let you know.

1st, glad to know you are w/ MSE. Much better! 2nd, this is not the 1st time I've heard of this issue w/ the vid driver. When similar (optional) Updates are offered, I have learned not to take them. Although, I've not had them blue screen, they can screw up the display & force a roll-back. The Display is probably fine & this Update, just ignore it.

Hi Drew, If I don't update the driver, then I'm stuck using the Default VGA adapter and my resolution suffers and can only have a max resolution of 800x600 which is unacceptable.

The driver I installed for the ATI x1250 says it's a Vista driver, and that no driver has been made for Windows 7, but to try it and see if it works. I have tried downloading this driver from ATIs website, from Win7 optional updates, and from Toshiba's drivers and all have resulted in the same issue of getting a BSoD when verifying the driver.

Another thing worth mentioning is on the Toshiba site, they give a guide on how to upgrade to windows 7. I followed it, but it says to upgrade to BIOS version 1.80. My BIOS is currently running 1.90 which came stock (I have not upgraded it). I highly doubt that downgrading to 1.80 would solve this issue, but is it something to consider?

UPDATE: Upon further reading, I have found some posts on the official toshiba support forums and even though they are from 2009, they might still be correct. Anyway, one contributor said:

"

At this point the 64bit Windows 7 ATI Graphics Drivers are causing lots of problems. It doesn't matter if they are downloaded directly from ATI or from Toshiba (which uses the ATI supplied drivers as the base for their Toshiba drivers). Until ATI get's around to correcting this problem 64bit Windows 7 simply does not run well with ATI graphics chips on laptops. The 32 bit Windows 7 runs fine though."​

I have access to a 32-bit version of Win7 as well, so should I try installing the 32-bit version?

Sure, but, 64-bit is certainly the preferred way to go aside, from the glitch you are encountering so, bit of a drag to lose x64 but, one must do what one must do, too. I know I have seen in forums this ATI problem, before. Unfortunately, I can't recall what solution I may have read.

I am running x64 & x86 W7 & used to have ATI but, switched to NVIDIA... bit hard to do w/ a laptop.

Not sure where you are at right now regarding this process and if you are convinced that the 64bit ATI driver is in fact your issue, then perhaps a clean install of the 32bit version of the OS may possibly be a solution. I can only tell you that all of your Driver Verifier Enabled Blue Screens trapped your touchpad driver as the offending culprit. DUMP:

SynTP.sys 8/14/2008 Synaptic Touch Pad Driver which you should be able to update from here Drivers | Synaptics Let us know where you are at and how you intend to proceed and of course, attach any more recent dump files and we'll have a look. Good luck and welcome to the forum. Regards Randy

Drew, I think it's the lack of support from Toshiba in this case, not ATI, but I'm not sure. Either way I'm stuck with it lol.

Randy, It's funny you say that...... The power cord on the laptop broke a year ago, so I had to go in and superglue it back in place. When I did this, I was a little too rough when opening of the case and accidentally pulled the ribbon out of the touchpad. I tried for an hour to get that ribbon back in, but couldn't get it so I left it out. I've been using a mouse ever since.

So anyway, if I disable that driver, will that fix that issue? Also, what file is that you shared with the error info?

I am now installing Windows 7 Professional 32bit and will let you all know how it works out. I really hope this fixes the issue.

I can only hope my misery might help someone else someday when they run into this issue.

The verifier is actually the driver verifier that I found mentioned several times on this windows7Forums site.I believe what it does is puts extra stress on components which if there is a faulty driver, will cause them to fail and result in a BSoD. Is this correct?

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I'd never run DriverVerifier (that's a lie, I would!) unless instructed. You've got it right. It stresses things out.

I ran it on my laptop (not the laptop that is crashing) and haven't had a single issue since last night leading me to believe that if a computer doesn't have a faulty driver, it can run the driver verifier without issue.

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No two pc's are the same.... Drew is right about AVG, from my canned BSOD speech:AVG is known to be a cause of BSOD's on Windows 7 systems. Suggest that you uninstall it. Download the correct AVG Remover for your system (32 or 64 bit). If you have AVG ID protection installed, download the AVGID Protection Remover from the above link as well (it wouldn't hurt to download and run it anyway). Download BSOD friendly Microsoft Security Essentials as AVG's replacement. Uninstall AVG through the Control Panel. Re-boot to Safe Mode and run the AVG Removal tool(s). Re-boot to normal mode and install MSE. Make sure your Windows firewall is enabled! After your blue screens have been resolved, feel free to re-try AVG.

I'd also run DeCrapifier to remove, well, the crap that OEM's insist on installing for your "benefit" (not).

No two pc's are the same.... Drew is right about AVG, from my canned BSOD speech:AVG is known to be a cause of BSOD's on Windows 7 systems. Suggest that you uninstall it. Download the correct AVG Remover for your system (32 or 64 bit). If you have AVG ID protection installed, download the AVGID Protection Remover from the above link as well (it wouldn't hurt to download and run it anyway). Download BSOD friendly Microsoft Security Essentials as AVG's replacement. Uninstall AVG through the Control Panel. Re-boot to Safe Mode and run the AVG Removal tool(s). Re-boot to normal mode and install MSE. Make sure your Windows firewall is enabled! After your blue screens have been resolved, feel free to re-try AVG.

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Thanks for your reply Elmer. I've now formatted my drive and installed Windows7 32bit and have since been using MSE.